Review of BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense.

This is a standalone review of the anime adaptation. The original material is beyond the scope of this review and is not a factor for consideration. Story: The story was executed extremely well. All of the promises that were made had a strong sense of progress and a great payoff. The pacing of the show is just right with fast action when it makes sense and slow slice-of-life when it wants to relax and the characters are goofing around. Characters: The main characters were characterised very well with standout characters being the main duo: Maple/Honjō Kaede and Sally/Shiramine Risa. Some of the supporting characters also saw somedevelopment but not all of them were able to come into their own. Likewise, some of the antagonists could also benefit from some more development relative to the amount of screen time they got and their overall narrative weight. The character interactions were a delight to watch, especially between the members of the Maple Tree guild.

Visual: The visuals were well above average with very well-animated fight scenes and remarkable background art, especially with some of the exotic side locations and hidden locations that Maple and Sally discover together. The character designs are generally very cute, especially for the main cast, and quite expressive, making good use of visual cues to convey characterisation and personality. The show makes heavy use of CGI to varying degrees of success: in certain scenes, the CGI is integrated extremely well and looks quite remarkable while in other moments the poorly integrated CGI can easily break immersion, which is a real shame considering how amazing this show looks when bad CGI isn't involved.

Audio: The sound design was very good and the music was great with many memorable soundtracks. The sound effects were generally on point and enhance the experience. The (Japanese) voice acting was quite good with standout performances by Kaede Hondo as Maple/Honjō Kaede and Ruriko Noguchi as Sally/Shiramine Risa.

Enjoyment: The show sets out to be a fun romp slice-of-life about a new MMORPG player failing her way to success and making friends. The characters are very cute and charming and their interactions are an absolute delight to watch. The comedy aspects of this show can be a little hit or miss depending on one's exposure to MMORPGs and video games in general. Overall, I found this to be one of the most fun and enjoyable shows of the season.

Objective Score Breakdown:
[3/3] Story
[2/3] Character
[1/2] Visual
[2/2] Audio
Final score of 8 out of 10.

Subjective Score Breakdown:
[4/4] Story
[4/4] Character
[3/4] Visual
[3/4] Audio
[4/4] Enjoyment
Final score of 18 out of 20.